Machine for operating upon the soles of shoes



April 24, 1934. A. A. LAWSON 1,955,753

MACHINE FOR OPERATING UPON THE SOLES OF SHOES Filed April 4, 1933 NESM Patented Apr. 24, 1934 L55J53 urrs STATES ATET OFFICE' MACHINE FOR OPERATING UPON THE SOLES OF SHOES Axel Arnold Lawson, Beverly, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April 4, 1933, Serial No. 664,312

9 Claims. (01. 12-18) This invention relates to improvements in ma- In View of the foregoing, one object of the preschines for operating upon the soles of shoes and ent invention is to provide, for use in machines is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine of the above-mentioned character, improved for rounding, channeling, or rounding and chanmechanism for maintaining a substantially uninehng the $0188 of Shoes p o to pe a n y form pressure of the work gripping and feeding 60 Sewing Otherwise S u g t Soles t0 th members upon the work, which will be particu- O S- larly adapted for convenient attachment to exist- Roundihg d Channeling mac es of the ing machines and which is designed for reliable y t mm y pl y d are p v d t and effective operation independently of an cooperating W r ppin d f ng m b r manual adjustment thereof by the operator of 65 which are adapted to engage the projecting sole the achine bO margin of a Shoe and feed it To the accomplishment of this object, one sively pa a rounding trimming knife, all feature of the present invention consists in a eXemple of such a machine being the rounding self-contained or unitary attachment for a ma- 15 end Channeling machine disclosed in United chine for operating upon shoe soles comprising 70 S a Letters Patent 1,030,506, granted June a bracket adapted to be attached to the frame 1912, po application of Perry In of the machine, a lever pivotally mounted upon order t p v d for t atis a ry f din of said bracket and adapted to be connected with a sole margins of different thicknesses, in the maork-engaging b for le work 20 hin ju referred one of t Work pp n gripping and feeding member, and a spring con- :15

and feed members is yieldihgly Dressed nected at one end to said lever and at its oppo- We d the et 'by Spring mechanism Which is site end to said bracket and permanently disposed Capable of being adjusted to maintain a Substehrelatively to said lever to vary the leverage intielly uniform pressure p Sole margins versely to variations in the tension of the spring ferent thic s, that result being Obtained by resulting from variations in work thickness, 80

the use Of a ve for ra mi h tension of thereby enabling the lever to transmit substanthe Spring to the pp member, the errengetially uniform pressure to said Work-engaging ment .Of t e lev and the Spring being Such that member regardless of variations in work thickthe leverage Varied inversely With lespeet t0 ness. The above-mentioned bracket upon which variations in the tens o o the Spring 80 as to the illustrated uniform pressure mechanism is 85 coun r compensate for changes of spring mounted is so constructed that it is adapted to tension. The uniform tension mechanism disbe appl ed to a rounding and channeling machine closed in the above patent has not, however, been t take the m of a removable member regularly generally p d in Commercial rounding and provided to serve as an abutment for the spring channeling machines probably because the benewhich Supplied the Work gripping pressure d 9 fieie Su1tS intended to be accomplished Were which is discarded when the present attachment liable to be lost on account of improper adjustis applied to the machine and the bracket is ment of h m han m y the p rat r f h adapted to be attached by screws which engage mach St rounding and Channeling awithin tapped holes already formed in the maehines new in Co a us t e have 0 chine frame for receiving screws for holding the 93; an s W h W fuhetieh maintain a above-mentioned abutment member in place. Su s y uniform p e 0f the W031! p- Thus the present mechanism may be attached p and feeding members 1113011 o e argins to existing machines without the necessity of which are thicker in one portion than in another, performing any measuring or machining operaalthough the advantages of such mechanisms are tions. 100

well recognized particularly'in the case of soles While it is important that the pressure with having spring heels, such soles being frequently which the work is gripped by the feeding memtwice as thick in the heel portions as at the bers shall be maintained substantially uniform shanks and foreparts, In the absence of any upon all portions of the sole margin of each shoe uniform pressure mechanism, the feeding of such operated upon, itis also important that pro- 165 a sole is likely to be interrupted or seriously invision should be made whereby the work gripterfered with as a result of the increased pressure ping pressure may be varied in accordance with with which the sole is gripped by the feeding the characteristics of different kinds of soles upon members when a relatively thick portion of the WhiCh'll', may be desiredto operate, it being desole margin reaches the latter. sirable to grip the margin of a relatively soft sole, such for example as a rubber sole, with less pressure than in the case of a relatively hard sole, such as a sole composed of a fine quality of leather, in order to insure maximum efficiency in the feeding of the work. The invention, accordingly, is further concerned with the provision of improved means for adjusting the initial tension of the spring which supplies the work gripping pressure. As herein illustrated, this improved means comprises a manually adjustable mechanism adapted to be set in a plurality of positions of adjustment for predetermining the amount of pressure to be exerted upon the work.

The invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of so much of a rounding and channeling machine as is necessary to illustrate the application of the present invention thereto; and

Fig. 2 is a detailed front elevational view of a portion of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, illustrating particularly the improved means for adjusting the initial tension of the spring which supplies the gripping pressure to the work.

The machine shown in the drawing is a rounding and channeling machine wh ch is adapted to perform a rounding or trimming operation only upon the sole or bottom margin of a shoe, such, for example, as the shoe A which, as indicated in Fig. l, is provided with an outsole B having a so-called spring heel portion C which is substantially thicker than the shank and forepart portions of the sole. The illustrated machine is provided with a reciprocatory rounding or trimming knife 10, and cooperating work gripping and feeding members comprising a sole support 12, and a feed plate 14 which are arranged to engage opposite sides of the margin of the outsole B to support the latter while it is being cut by the knife 10 and which are vibrated to advance the sole margin one step after each cutting stroke of the knife. These parts are of the same construction and have the same general mode of operation as that of corresponding parts of the machine disclosed in the above-mentioned Letters Patent No. 1,030,606, to which reference may be had for particulars of construction and operation not herein specifically described. For an understanding of the present invention it will be necessary also to know that, as in the machine of the patent referred to, the work support 12 of the illustrated machine is carried by a carrier slide 16 which is mounted upon an oscillatory support 18 and that the support 18 is formed upon the front end of a shaft 20 which is mounted to rock and to move longitudinally in horizontal bearings 22 formed in the frame 24 of the machine, so that the work support 12 may vibrate in the direction of feed of the work to cooperate with the vibratory feed plate 14 in the feeding of the work and may also move toward and from the feed plate 14 to accommodate variations in work thickness.

As herein illustrated, the slidable rockshaft 20 is acted upon by means of spring mechanism which constantly urges the shaft endwise in a direction to press the work support 12 forwardly toward the feed plate 14 so that the margin of a shoe sole interposed between the support 12 and the feed plate 14 will be firmly gripped by the latter, and which permits the work support 12 to yield backwardly or causes it to move forwardly as may be required to accommodate variations in the thickness of the sole margin at different parts of the shoe being operated upon. Moreover, the spring mechanism just referred to is designed to press the work support 12 against the work with a substantially uniform pressure regardless of the thickness of the material being operated upon and thereby avoid any interference with the feeding of the work. To this end, 7

as herein shown, the spring mechanism comprises a coil-ed spring 30, a lever 32 which is acted upon by the spring, and a horizontal rod 34 the rear end of which is engaged by the upper extremity of the lever 32 and the front of which fits within an axial bore in the rear portion of the rockshaft 20. As shown, the lower end of the lever 32 is pivoted at 36 to a bracket 38 the upper portion of which is rigidly secured by means of screws 40 to the rear bearing 22 for the rockshaft 20. The upper end of the spring 30 is engaged within a notch 42 formed in a stud 44 which is rigidly secured by means of a nut 46 to a lug 48 formed on the lever 32. The stud 44 is formed with a shoulder 49 which seats against a finished'flat surface on the lug 48 when the nut 46 is tightened thereby positively locating the notch 42 relatively to the lever to insure accurate compensation for changes in spring tension caused by variations of work thickness. The lower end of the spring 30 is engaged within a notch 50 in a stud 52 which projects from a disk 54 formed on a stub shaft 56 which is mounted to turn in a bearing formed in the lower extremity of the bracket 38, the stud 52 being eccentric to the axis of the shaft 56 so that turning of the shaft in its bearing will adjust the stud 52 toward or from the stud 44 to expand or contract the spring 30 and thus to vary its tension. For the purpose of turning the shaft 56 to adjust the tension of the spring 30, a hand lever 58 is pinned to the shaft 56 and a latch 60 is pivoted at 62 to the hand lever 58 and is urged by a spring 64 in a direction to maintain it in engagement with one of a plurality of notches 66 formed in a segmental surface 68 at the lower extremity of the bracket 38 so as to lock the stud 52 in different selected positions of adjustment. By releasing the latch 60 and turning the hand lever 58 the initial tension of the spring 30 may be adjusted to vary the pressure with which the sole margin is gripped according to the character of the material of which the sole is composed.

In operation the work support 12 may be retracted relatively to the feed plate 14 to permit the margin of a sole or shoe bottom to be introduced between those members by depression of a foot treadle 70 which, as shown, is connected by a rod 72 with one arm of a bell crank lever '74 which is pivoted at 76 to the frame of the machine and the other arm of which is arranged to engage a lug 78 formed on a sleeve 80 which is fixed upon the rockshaft 2-). Upon release of the treadle '70 the force of the spring 30 will be tran mitted through the lever 32, the rod 34, the slidable rockshaft 20, the carrier 18, and the slide 16 to the work support 12, thereby causing the sole margin to be gripped between the support 12 and the feed plate 14 with a pressure determined by the tension of the spring 30. Advantageously the maximum pressure may be as high as forty pounds when the eccentric stud 52 is positioned as shown in the drawing while the minimum pressure may be as low as ten pounds when the eccentrio pin 52 has been adjusted into a position determined by engagement of the latch 60 with the uppermost of the notches 66. Whatever initial tension may be imparted to the spring 30 by adjustment of the eccentric stud 52, however, the 1" resulting pressure with which the work is gripped by the feeding members 12 and 14 will not be materially effected by'rearward movement of the member 12 resulting from an increase in the thickness of the sole margin because, as the member 12 and the rockshaft 20 are displaced rearwardly and as the rod 34 swings the lever 32 backwardly, the increased tension resulting from the stretching of the spring will be counteracted inasmuch as the force of the spring will then be applied to the lever 32 at a more acute angle. In other words, the length of the moment arm of the pull exerted by the spring will be shortened and the leverage through which the tension of the spring is transmitted to the sole support will be diminished, In the construction shown the spring 30 and the lever 32 are relatively proportioned and arranged so that any variation in the tension of the spring resulting from movement of the lever 32 in response to variation in work thickness will be counteracted or compensated for to such an extent as to insure that the pressure exerted by the sole support 12 upon the sole margin will remain substantially uniform regardless of any variation in the thickness of the sole margin. Thus, in the case of the shoe shown in the drawing, the margin of the outsole will be gripped between the work feeding members 12 and 14 with substantially the same pressure whether those members are gripping the relatively thin portions at the shank and forepart of the shoe or whether they are gripping the relatively thick portion of the sole margin at the heel of the shoe. In order to secure this result it is, of course, necessary that the spring 30 shall be accurately disposed in a particular relation to the lever 32 and to the axis about which that lever swings. By mounting both the lever 32 and the spring 30 upon the same fixture or bracket, as herein described, and thus providing a self-contained, uniform tension device in the nature of a unitary attachment, the proper relationship between the spring and the lever may be accurately determined when the device is being manufactured and cannot subsequently be readjusted or interfered with by the operator of the machine. The attachment is adapted to be applied as a unit to existing machines by merely removing a cap or abutment member which is customarily secured to the outer end of the rearmost bearing 2 and by substituting therefor the herein-described attachment. The attachment is adapted to be rigidly secured to the frame of the machine by means of the screws which are constructed to fit within tapped holes already provided for the purpose of receiving screws for holding in place the cap above referred to.

A machine equipped with the herein-described uniform pressure device may be adapted for maxi mum emciency in feeding soles of varying degrees of firmness by adjustment of the hand lever 58 to vary the initial tension of the spring 30 and thus to cause the work feeding members to grip the sole margins with a degree of pressure which is most suitable for the particular soles to be operated upon, it being understood that relatively soft soles, e. g. rubber soles, should be gripped with substantially less pressure than relatively hard soles, e. g. fine quality leather soles Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1, For use in a machine for operating upon the soles of shoes wherein a work-engaging member is mounted for movement to accommodate variations of work thickness, a unitary attachment comprising, in combination, a bracket adapted to be attached to the frame of the machine, a lever pivotally mounted upon said bracket and adapted to be connected with aid work-engaging member, and a spring connected at one end to said lever and at its opposite end to said bracket and permanently disposed relatively to said lever to vary the leverage inversely to variations in the tension of said spring resulting from variations in work thckness, thereby enabling said lever to transmit substantially uniform pressure to said work-engaging member regardless of variations of work thickness.

2. For use in a machine for operating upon the soles of shoes wherein work gripping and feeding members are mounted for relative movement to accommodate d'fferent thicknesses of sole margins, an attachment comprising, in combination, a bracket adapted tobe attached to the frame ofthe machine, a lever pivotally mounted upon said bracket, a rod mounted to slide in a bearing in said bracket with one end in engagement with said lever, sa'd rod being adapted to be connected with one of said work gripping and feeding members, a spring connected at one end to said lever and at its opposite end to said bracket and permanently disposed relatively to said lever to vary the leverage inversely to variations in the tension of said spring whereby the lever is enabled to cause the work gripping and feeding members to grip the work with substantially uniform pressure regardless of variations of work thickness.

3. For use in a machine for operating upon the soles of shoes wherein a Work-engaging member is mounted for movement to accommodate variations of work thickness, a unitary attachment comprising, in combination, a bracket adapted to be attached to the frame of the machine, a lever pivotally mounted upon said bracket and adapted to be connected with said work-engag ng member, an eccentric pin, a post mounted on said bracket for adjustment toward and from said lever, means for adjusting said post, a spring con nected at one end to said lever and at its opposite end to said post and arranged to vary the leverage inversely to variations in the tension of the spring whereby said lever is enabled to transmit substantially uniform pressure to said work-engaging member regardless of variations in work thickness.

4. In a machine for operating upon the soles of shoes, the combnation with work supporting and feeding members arranged to engage opposite sides of the projecting margin of the bottom of a shoe, a bracket secured to the frame of the machine, a lever mounted upon said bracket, a rod slidable within a bearing in said bracket with one end engaged by said lever, a carrier for one of said supporting and feeding members, connections between said slide rod and said carrier, and a spring connected at one end to said lever and at its opposite end to said bracket and permanently disposed relatively to said lever to Vary the leverage inversely to variations the tension of the spring whereby the lever is enabled to transmit substantially uniform pressure tirough said slide rod and said carrier to cause said work supporting and feeding members to engage the work with substantially un form pressure regardless of variations in work thickness.

5. In a machine for operating on shoe soles, in combination, a sole support capable of yielding to accommodate variations in sole thickness, a

spring for holding the support against a sole arranged to maintain a substantially uniform pressure upon the sole regardless of variations in the thickness of the sole, and means having a plurality of difierent predetermined positions of adjustment for varying the tension of the spring.

6. In a machine for operating upon the soles of shoes, in combination, work supporting and feeding members arranged to engage opposite sides of the projecting margin of the bottom of a shoe, a spring arranged to cause said members to grip said bottom margin with a substantially uniform pressure regardless of variations in the thickness of the margin, means for adjusting the tension of said spring, and means for holding said adjusting means in a plurality of different predetermined positions.

7. In a machine for operatng upon the soles of shoes, in combination, work feeding members arranged to engage opposite sides of the projecting margin of the bottom of a shoe, means including a spring and an eccentric pin for causing said members to grip said bottom margin with a substantially uniform pressure regardless of variations in the thickness of the margin, and means for turning said pin and for looking it in different positions of adjustment for varying the tension of said spring.

8. In a. machine for operating upon the soles of shoes, in combination, a work feeding member arranged to engage one side of the projecting margin of the bottom of a shoe, a movable work support arranged to engage the opposite side of said bottom margin, a lever arranged to move said work support toward said feeding member to grip the work, a spring connected at one end to said lever arranged to cause said work support to exert a substantially uniform pressure upon said bottom margin regardless of variations in the thickness of said margin, a rotatably adjustable device to which the opposite end of said spring is eccentrically connected, means for adjusting said device to vary the tension of the spring, and means for locking said device in different positions of adjustment.

9,.In a machine for operating upon the soles of shoes, in combination, a frame, a work feeding member arranged to engage one side of the projecting margin of the bottom of a shoe, a movable work support arranged to engage the opposite side of said bottom margin, a bracket secured to said frame, a lever mounted upon said bracket, connections between said lever and said work support for moving the latter toward said feed member, a spring connected at one end to said lever, a manually rotatable member carried by said bracket, an eccentric pin on said rotatable member to which the opposite end of said spring is connected, said spring being arranged to cause 1 said work support to grip said bottom margin with substantially uniform pressure regardless of variations in the thickness of said margin, a notched segment carried by said bracket, and a latch on said rotatable member for cooperating with said 'i segment for holding said member in different positions of adjustment.

AXEL ARNOLD LAWSON. 

